


one with a happy ending

by Hellokaelyn



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, post 17x16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:47:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22796524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: "Why didn't they end up together?"Nick asked that question twice in his life years apart from each other but never would he say it again.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 6
Kudos: 102





	one with a happy ending

**Author's Note:**

> I had a little connecting moment with this so I gave it a shot. written quickly and with me half asleep so who knows if it'll be any good.

This wasn’t how the case was supposed to go. It certainly wasn’t what Nick expected at the start.

He never planned to get so invested, to see himself as their victim —feel all the things Art had felt that was written in the letters. Nick experienced investment in cases and compassion, but nothing like this. Never had he felt the real heartache as if it was  _ him _ going through it, as if it was  _ his _ life and not Art’s. From that first letter Ellie read out loud—he was hooked. 

_ “Why didn’t they end up together?” _

Words spoken from his own mouth kept coming back to him. Nick swallowed thickly and rested his head back against the cold stone wall. At first when he spoke those words his mind flashed to him and a certain blonde agent that he stood behind, the smell of her vanilla body wash filling his senses—but that changed when they found out about Annie’s death. 

Suddenly his mind was then filled with images of him sitting by a hospital bed, eyes red from tears shed in private with bags under them from sleepless nights. A young woman in the bed trying her hardest to smile while squeezing his hand lightly, her eyes closing every few seconds from the pain medication flowing into her vein that's only purpose was to numb her body from the pain raging within. 

A tear slid down Nick’s cheek that he quickly wiped away. 

Years ago he spoke those same exact words to himself, asking why he and Sofia didn’t end up together but distancing himself from the question by using  _ they _ instead of  _ we _ because the pain in his heart was still all too real. He asked himself  _ why _ a lot over that time. Why them? Why did Sofia have to get cancer? Why did she have to die? Why didn’t they end up together with their happy ending?

Nick now knew why they didn't get their happy ending of course—he was meant to be with someone else (if only he got the courage), but the thought of Annie dying because she was sick reminded him too much of Sofia, no matter if it was different circumstances. His investment in the case made it hit him like a ton of bricks. 

Now hours after the case was over, Nick found himself unknowingly sitting in the same exact spot Art had been sitting all those years ago. He knew it was completely weird and creepy to be sitting right beside a dead body of someone he never met with others he never met only a few feet away, but he couldn’t find it in himself to really care. 

“I had a feeling I’d find you here.” 

Tilting his head to the side that still rested against the wall behind him, he sent Ellie a small twitch of his lips. “Why’s that?”

Ellie sighed, coming to sit beside him. “Because I was planning on coming here too, if only to say goodbye to Annie.”

“Yeah.” Nick whispered low. “It’s like some weird connection you can’t describe.”

She made a noise of agreement. “Like we knew them personally just by words they wrote on paper.” Ellie turned her head to look at him. “But I have a feeling you’re here for another reason too.”

Nick let out a breath. “Sofia.” Was all he said, knowing she’d understand. 

“Annie being sick.” She said in a quiet tone as realization hit her, placing her hand on the arm resting on his leg. “I’m sorry Nick.”

“It’s not like a lot of cases don’t trigger a memory or feelings about Sofia-” Nick sighed in frustration. “But being so invested in the story of Art and Annie, it just hit differently.”

“Uh well maybe getting out of here will help clear your head some?” Ellie suggested with a sheepish look.

Nick couldn’t help but chuckle. They both placed their hands on Annie’s grave, silently saying their goodbyes to the woman they never met yet felt so strongly about before walking out. It wasn’t until they reached the graveyard parking and stood between their cars parked side by side that they spoke again.

“Ellie?” He looked her in the eye as she turned at her name. “When we were reading the letters-” Nick stopped, wondering if he should make something else up instead of blurting out his actual thoughts. 

“You were picturing us in those roles?” Ellie finished for him, a smile she hid (just barely) by biting the inside of her cheek.

“You were doing it too?” Nick blinked at her with slight shock.

“Guess we were more invested than we thought.” 

“Except our story ends on a happy note.” 

Ellie opened her mouth then snapped it closed, eyes a few centimeters wider. “Nick?”

Nick fought everything in him that wanted to bullshit his way out of this. He didn’t want to end up without the person he loved like Art, he didn’t want more  _ why’s _ , he didn’t want someone else to wonder or himself  _ why didn’t they end up together?  _ Years later. 

He took a breath and smiled. “You’re the Annie to my Art.”

A shocked and breathy laugh escaped her, hand over her mouth covering her wide smile with pink cheeks. Nick reached up and slowly moved her hand away to see her beautiful smile, the first thing he fell for. Keeping hold of her hand, he slid his fingers between hers.

Ellie squeezed his hand in return, a soft look in her eyes. “And you’re the Art to my Annie.”

“But with a happy ending.”

She grinned almost shyly at his confession that wasn’t an outright confession, but one nonetheless. “A happy ending.”

With a slight laugh, Nick yanked on her hand pulling her against him, his arm sliding around her waist. “How about we get out of here and start that happy ending story?”

Ellie smiled. “A story of Nick and Ellie-”

“Sounds like a pretty damn good one to me.”

She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Of course you’d think that, you’re one of the main characters!”

“Well duh!” Nick scoffed. “Hey..do you think we could get McGee to write it?”

“Nick..I was half joking-”

“I wasn’t! Who  _ wouldn’t _ wanna read our story!”

“Oh god what did I start?” Ellie mumbled to herself, but a fond smile finding its way to her lips.

An hour later they sat next to each other in a booth at a random restaurant they picked out of the blue, Ellie listening in amusement as Nick went on about what they could get McGee to put in their story until finally she cut him off with a kiss that effectively distracted him for the rest of the night. 


End file.
